Here we find out what the Master's plan is, and how they are going to counter it.
Mea culpa on not updating this sooner, good news is, I have the ending all done for you and uploading it all now.
It was dark where Void Walker was. Dark and oppressive, like she was being weighed down by heavy comforters with weights on them. It didn't hurt, but she felt pressed down, unable to move. She struggled up against them, but they covered her completely. There seemed to be no edge, just the soft weight pressing her deep into darkness.
Koschei smiled, looking down at his captive. She was most vulnerable in this stage, the physical, then any other time. Safely bound to the table and unconscious, he reached a hand to stroke over her hair. The golden metallic strands that weaved with her other hair were a bit unusual, but not unpleasant. However she must not have liked his touch because even unconscious she shuddered. He could deal with that, oh he could use that.
Those fools didn't really understand her potential power, but he did. He had seen the Gallifreyan words wrought into her skin, and then he knew how he could use them. Those promises and vows were incomplete; she would instinctively need to finish them. However she couldn't and knew that. All he really needed to do was make her forget.
Then he would be rewarded, and then the council would bow to him. Wasn't he the one that had seen her enter a universe and then exit it? Wasn't he the one that managed to hide away before the Time War was temporally locked by that fool? Wasn't he the one that was going to use this creature to break it, and bring the Time Lords back? Oh yes, they would be bowing to him. He gave a little giggle at the thought.
Normally she would have no problem fighting him off, but he had ruthlessly set up the situation to make her vulnerable. He had planted stories and fables about her to weave her in to this universe and make her a part of it. The whole thing with the rift was just so she would exhaust herself. Now it was easier to keep her unconscious, and while she was so, she was much more vulnerable to what he could do.
Oh he was far cleverer than the Doctor was. He had fouled up the time lines and done everything he could to draw the Void Walker this universe. He had even taken out his rival and the lesser form of this evolved creature in front of him. She had an odd kind of beauty, all golden with the vortex sparkling within her.
He could feel the pulse, the heartbeats of his people, calling to him. It was the call of the four drumbeats, eternally sounding in his head. Koschei knew Rallison had put them there, but he didn't care. They thought they were going to use him. Rather naïve of them he thought.
Instead, as long as he controlled her, he controlled everything and everyone. He placed his hands on her head, further burying her into the darkness. Soon now, soon she would start calling. Then they would all be calling him Master.
Back in the hub they scrambled, frantic shouts as the Doctor swore. He sent a frantic query to the Tardis to see if Koschei could be tracked, but, the response back he got was negative. At least he was close enough to the Tardis that he could talk to her. Jack paced as his people reported back the same thing. There was no way to tell where he had gone with her.
Jack moved over to the Doctor, who was muttering to himself. "Doc, I know there are a lot of things that make her special, but what could he be using her for. He apparently made the rift unstable, just to get at her. What could he get with her, that he couldn't with the Rift?"
The Doctor had already been running his hands in his hair making it stick up at all angles. Jack's question just made his frustration worse. "I don't know there isn't a lot he can do without her actively working with him."
"Is there anything that you can think of? Because I don't have any ideas and I don't know anything about him."
Throwing a hand up in frustration he shook his head. "I don't know him here, and it is not like he left some sort of plan written out for me. Wait; written out, oh I'm so thick."
Moving to the table he grabbed a piece of paper, and swiftly started writing out the Gallifreyan symbols. Soon he had the page covered. He studied them for a moment and then threw down the pencil. "That's it, written out on her skin. "
Jack glanced at the page and then over to the Doctor. "That's great Doc, but what does it mean? I asked her before but she wouldn't translate any of the ones I saw on her for me. She always changed the subject.
The Doctor sank into a seat and moved the paper so Jack could see it. Using the pencil as a pointer, he pointed to the sections as he talked. "See this is a Gallifreyan's name, this is a human's name, and that is a symbol for the Tardis. The rest is a kind of pledge, but one that wasn't completed. Did she ever tell you how she got the way she is now?"
Jack shook his head no, watching the Doctor's animated face as he explained. "She was lost into the void, and they tried to get her back. It must have been some really rather extreme circumstances, because that could punch holes, very bad ones. "
"Anyways, based on what she told me, and what I see here, I'm thinking they linked her lives to hers to try and save her. Her Doctor, her best friend, and their Tardis, were working together and essentially trading their lives so she would live. They must have all loved each other very much."
"Okay, I can see that, but how can he use that?" Jack's voice held his puzzlement as he followed along.
"They are incomplete, they couldn't have been completed without her consent, and she must have been unable to give consent at the time. They put a claim on her, but it is up to her to claim them as well and complete the bond. IF she had rejected it, the markings would be gone. If it was me, I would have kept them, even if I couldn't complete it, just to have something of them."
Jack nodded, his own thoughts going to his experience on Satellite Five. "With you so far, that does sound like her."
"Now, when she woke she would have instinctively tried to call for them, to complete or reject the binding. Not a problem if she was in the void, or her own universe. But here, because of the amount of power she has, she could literally rip apart the universe looking for them. Since one of the names is a Gallifreyan's and another is a Tardis, she has enough power to break the Time Lock looking for them." He went rather pale at the thought.
Jack blanched; he had heard stories about the Time War and the destruction it wreaked. That was a very bad thing. This also though started to jog his memory. He hadn't just collected stories on The Big Bad Wolf, he had studied them himself, looking for something. There was one, that wasn't by that Harold Saxon, which just might have an answer for them. "Hang on Doc, I think I have something that might fit."
Grabbing the collection Void Walker had been studying, he rapidly flipped through it. Finding the right one he opened it up, and set it in front of the Doctor. Quickly he read it through. "Oh, oh yes, that's it exactly. But noooooo, it can't be that simple can it?"
"Can what be that simple, spit it out Doctor." Emphatically Jack gestured at the paper waiting for an answer.
The Doctor ruffled the hair on the back of his head, the tip of his ears turning red. That distracted Jack for a moment; he wasn't sure what exactly was causing the Doctor to blush. Quickly the Doctor pointed to the beginning of the poem. "Welllll this first stanza here, it is a wonderful word stanza by the way. It reminds me of stargazing, ooo good combination there, stanza stargazing, need to remember that one. Anyways if you look at the first stanza, it supports destroy the Time Lock theory. The forgotten race could be the Time Lords."
When the Bad Wolf summons the universe shakes
The cry will herald the rebirth of the forgotten race
Time will shred and twist and dance in a new form
Worlds and stars will clash and be reborn
He waved emphatically at that and then the stanzas after it. "Lots of destruction, not a good thing at all, but then it suggests a solution, a way to prevent it. It's suggesting if the three named here bind themselves to her that will stop the processes. Even start fixing things."
Walker of Worlds she'll be the destruction of all
But not if the three can hear her call
The Time Touched, the Time Itself, and Time's Beloved
Reality's hope for keeping the stars above
Those once noble twisted time for their use alone
But they have forgotten how the starlit path shone
The three can call her back to what she should be
Their hearts bound together as all can see
He hurries on, the back of his neck red now. "And the last bit talks about it all resolving into a kind of happy ending. Everything's fixed, she's got a home, and people that will stay with her."
Weave the binding of the Bad Wolf's cry
Mend the broken battered bleeding sky
Bound by love home at last she'll find her place
The Big Bad Wolf protector of every single race
Listen now to the star child's song
Soon the danger will be ever gone
Protector and protected rest at last in your new home
Know that you will never again be all alone
Jack listened, looking at the words, and then back to the Doctor whom was clearly a bit uncomfortable. "Okay, so basically we have to find the counterparts in this universe, have them complete the bonding, and that will fix everything?"
Tugging on his ear the Doctor refused to look at Jack. "Yes, but the binding isn't that simple. This isn't something you just agree to. You have to want it, and once it's done, you are bound to that person, mind and body. Final set of dancing partners as it were, unhappy apart, almost dangerous to be split up in fact. She has to accept them as well."
There is a slight nudge from the Tardis, and he blinks. "Blimey that was fast, the Tardis says she already bound herself to her. That was what happened when we arrived and she didn't want us touching her. Probably was trying to prevent herself from reaching out to anything but the Tardis."
Jack eyed the Doctor, a small smile on his face despite the levity of the situation. "So, right now I'm not seeing a problem here. End of universe or bind yourself to a gorgeous, powerful, wonderful woman for life. Easy choice I would think."
"You'd also be stuck with the other people in the bond. Well who couldn't like being in the Tardis though, life of adventure right?" The Doctor kept studying the papers in front of him. They must be utterly fascinating.
Now Jack was openly grinning, leaning back he folded his arms. "Still not a bad deal, though I'm guessing you are part of it, since you are the counter part of the Doctor here. Unless you want to tell me you don't want to be around her."
His head shot up and he looked at Jack with astonishment. "Of course not, I mean, I don't have any problem with that. Why would I have a problem with that? Underneath it all she's Rose after all." He flushed again and looked down.
"Okay, that's you and the Tardis we just have to get a third person on board. I'm guessing the Tardis is Time Itself, so that makes you Time Touched or Time's Beloved. " At this point Jack was almost enjoying watching the Doctor squirm.
The Doctor sniffed, trying to adopt a casual air. "Well I certainly thing the Tardis loves me."
That comment made Jack laugh, while the Doctor finally looked over to him. "The thing is Jack; I think you are the Time Touched. It's a version of your name on her. So that last question is up to you, if you want to be stuck with us."
Flashing his charming smile Jack seemed utterly relaxed. "What was it that she said in the kitchen, stuck with you two, now that's not so bad."
Donna's voice practically rang in his head, as the flush managed to completely cover his cheeks and neck now. He could almost hear her laughing at him and waving her hand, telling him to go on now dummy. She was still with him it seemed. Maybe when this was all over he could find the Donna in this universe and make friends. Yes, he needed to stop distracting himself and get back to the topic on hand.
"Yes well then that settles that." He jumps up out of his seat ready to move towards the Tardis. "When the Tardis feels the call, she'll take us to her. Now the Master might have anticipated this, he did kill off this universe's Doctor after all. So we'll have to be ready. "
Jack gets up to follow him, not quite ready though to let him off without a little teasing. "Then we will be ready. You know Doctor for a 900 year old alien, you are awfully shy."
"Oi! I am not, take that back!"
The two entered the Tardis, getting ready for the fight to come.
